out here in the cold
by Tabitha Frost
Summary: "They couldn't heal each other, but they could lessen each other's pain; like anesthetic." AU damon/caroline, with mentions of klaus/caroline.


"_I'll die, if you don't hold me tight tonight_

_I couldn't make it outside, if I tried_

_So please let me in lover, be kind."_

_**-Out Here In The Cold, Gotye.**_

/

They managed to kill him. Klaus.

With Esther's spells, hers and Bonnie's joint powers, and a small branch of the great white oak tree Damon managed to get somehow. They killed him, the big bad original hybrid.

Caroline was kept out of the plan, _again_, as she always had.

She couldn't blame them, though. By that time the hybrid had managed to pave his way into her heart. She loved Elena, she really did. And she wanted her, and everyone else to be safe (from _him_). But had she known, she probably would have done something to keep him alive.

She was at home that night, and only realized something was wrong when she dropped the glass of water she had been holding. She wasn't always that klutzy or careless. Not enough to drop a glass like that for no reason. And when she found them in the Mikaelson's backyard, she was proven right.

/

They kissed. Once.

She was having a bad day and everyone just seemed upset her. He was there and he said things and offered her smiles that gave her butterflies in her stomach.

Their gazes locked and she couldn't find the monster that people knew him to be. She saw how human he could be; gentle, caring, and miserable all at the same time. Somehow she could relate to him.

They kissed once. But that was enough to grant him a place in her heart.

/

He was lying on the ground, writhing in pain. She had never seen him look so fragile; so delicate. She rushed to his side and took him in her arms. A stake was planted on his chest. White oak.

He wasn't graying. Maybe it was different for him because he was a hybrid. He bleed, like human—which he wasn't. He coughed up blood, and there was a lot of blood coming from the ugly hole in his chest, caused by the small piece of wood.

She held him until he closed his eyes and she couldn't hear him breathing anymore. She held him even longer after that. She didn't want to let him out of her embrace.

/

It was Damon who pulled her away from him.

He took her and carried her in his arms, and she was too tired to protest or fight back. She let him took her home and tucked her in her bed. She let him wiped away her tears and the messed up mascara around her eyes.

She let him held her when she woke up early in the morning, crying and sweating cold and shaking.

He let her curled up to him in her bed.

/

She was packing up her last suitcase when she heard his car pulled up. After closing the case, she went to her window to check on him. But by the time she got there, he was already up in her room.

"I'm coming," he had said, and from the look in his eyes she knew there was nothing she could say to get rid of him.

"Okay," she sighed. "But you got to be less _Damon _and be nice," she picked up one of her suitcases and threw it at his direction, "And, you have to help me carry those suitcases."

/

They went to Los Angeles first, since it was her initial destination. He didn't get to complain, because it was _him _who wanted to tag along with _her._

When she was little, she used to watch Breakfast At Tiffany's and wished to be just like Audrey Hepburn. She dreamed to be an actress, to live a Hollywood life. But it all seemed even more impossible than it was back then.

That didn't stop her from not enjoying their stay in the city. She worshipped LA. She loved the sun, the beaches, the parties...and the nonexistent similarity between the city and her gloomy hometown.

They stayed there for five years, which felt more like five days to vampires like them. But Caroline wanted to travel the world.

"_I don't want to just stay in the same place for too long. The world's huge. There are still places we haven't reach!"_ she chided when Damon whined about it.

They stayed out of Rome, Paris, and Tokyo, though. Because the cities would remind her of Klaus. And if anything, she didn't want to open up the old wound.

Her nightmares had done enough of that.

/

They were in Berlin when they first made love.

Though, at the time they referred to it as 'fuck', since they didn't know if they loved each other (and they _still _don't know).

It was raining outside and thunders were blazing; they only made her nightmare worse. She was trashing in her sleep, and he couldn't see her like that. He woke her up and wrapped her in his embrace, like usual.

She wondered when his arms became her safe haven. He wondered what had gotten into him that made him do what he did.

When her sobs were getting violent, and her tears just wouldn't stop, he cradled her face and wiped her tears with his thumbs.

"Sssh. It's okay, Caroline," he had whispered.

She looked up and was met with his azure eyes.

Both lost track of who kissed who, who deepened it, or who initiated it. The next thing they know their lips were crashing and clothes were torn apart.

They woke up in each other's embrace the next morning.

And it felt like home.

/

They never ask.

She never asks him what happened with the second doppelganger that got him to fled town with her.

He never asks anything about Klaus. Or Tyler. Or anyone from her hometown.

Both are glad the other doesn't.

/

He couldn't take her bad dreams away.

She couldn't fix the wreck that was his heart.

They couldn't heal each other, but they could lessen each other's pain; like anesthetic. And they couldn't live without each other. Because if one wasn't around, both would suffer in excruciating pain, and no one could live with that.

They were like flowers and butterflies. Flowers wouldn't bloom without the help of butterflies, and butterflies would die without food from the flowers.

/

**Fin. **


End file.
